Sameer Wankhede, the controversial IRS officer and former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) director, may contest the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra. Wankhede is likely to contest on Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena's ticket from Dharavi, Times Now reported citing sources.
Voting for all the 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra will take place in a single phase on November 20 and the results will be declared on November 23.
In October 2021, the former NCB director laid raids on the Cordelia cruise ship, where superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan was arrested on charges of drug use and possession.
Aryan was in jail for around a month before being released on bail. Charges against Aryan Khan were later dropped and Wankhede was removed from the case after he was accused of blackmail. The controversial IRS officer was later transferred to Chennai.
In May last year, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case of corruption against Wankhede. He was charged with corruption for allegedly demanding bribe worth around Rs 25 crore from Khan, which he vehemently denies.
Apart from Sameer Wankhede, others who were named in the FIR include former NCB SP Vishwa Vijay Singh, ex-intelligence officer of NCB Ashish Ranjan, Sanville D'Souza and the alleged witness Kiran Gosavi.
CBI registered a case against him after the NCB conducted an internal vigilance probe against Wankhede and others and shared the contents with the central agency.
NCP national spokesperson Nawab Malik also accused Sameer Wankhede of various offences including extortion.
They were booked under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 388 (threat of extortion) of the Indian Penal Code apart from the Prevention of Corruption Act. Four months later, he was cleated of bribery charges related to Aryan Khan ahead of the release of Shah Rukh Khan's blockbuster film Jawan.